IKEA Communications AB

What if you could inspire to make everyday life just a little bit better?

The answer is simple: You can. This is what motivates us at IKEA. We’re constantly searching to find new ways to be better. We use insights from real life at home all over the world, learning about the needs and dreams of people. We use our home furnishing knowledge to help inspire people with ideas and solutions that will help them live the life they want.

At IKEA Communications, we’re people-centric, have a passion for making great stuff, and we aim to be the best communication partner for the whole of IKEA. We work closely and together with our colleagues across IKEA, creating state-of-the-art communication at the lowest price. Located in Älmhult, Sweden, we’re a melting pot of many different nationalities and cultures. Because in order to make things better for the many, we want to involve people from all parts of the world. Nonetheless, we never forget our Swedish heritage that forms the backbone of who we are today.

We’re on the lookout for passionate doers, idea makers, creative thinkers - people who want to find answers to everyday problems in people’s lives, for society and the planet.

Do you also believe in celebrating the everyday life? Do you want to be part of making it happen from idea to paper or pixel? Then keep on reading.

Right now we are setting up three Competence Areas in IKEA Communications. Project Support will be one of the competence areas in Project Operations. We are now looking for a Project Support Manager.    

Project Operations will support projects at IKEA Communications with specialist format-independent competences leading, managing, facilitating and supporting tailor-made creative teams in the different phases of ideation, creation, and development of communication. Continuously improving and simplifying the overall communication development process from end-to-end with seamless handovers and excellence in planning and securing quality, time and cost with strong competence in project management, tools and frameworks.

The purpose of the Project support is to contribute in projects with administration expertise and enable other competences to have focus on their core assignments. Project support will also secure high quality in project concerning products, meta data, products texts and administrations of IKEA business systems.  

As a Project Support Manager you will…

• Create and secure a yearly development plan for the competence area; ensuring activities are executed according to and in alignment with the organization’s competence development roadmap.
• Ensure the continuous development of the co-worker’s Project support expertise to remain ahead of the organization’s competence needs.
• Work with mutual alignment and responsibility with other managers within the Project operations.
• Develop and maintain a strong internal network with ICOM competencies groups to ensure fast adaptations to new demands of project support. 
• Work closely with building bridges between creation and production operations, taking an active role in different stages of production, securing clarity of roles and responsibilities within the competence area.
• Ensure all actions are in line with existing frameworks, organizational guidelines and/or legal requirements.
• Manage the necessary recruitment and succession plans to meet the organization’s competence demands, both short- and long-term.
• Lead and manage people in order for them to perform and deliver within their assignment as high-performing individuals. 
• Encourage co-workers to be in the lead of their own development, keeping up-to-date with new/latest competence demands, technical capabilities, technological advancements, consumer trends and Life at Home insights.
• Create pre-conditions for a trustful, inclusive, engaging and future-oriented learning environment that supports the co-worker’s continuous competence development, leadership capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Follow-up closely the development goals, both on team and individual level.
• Manage closely the connected performance indicators and progress of the different projects to secure delivery within the agreed frames (quality, time, costs).
• Challenge current ways of working and take lead in securing a continuous development and innovation of optimal project methods and processes, solutions and tools within the competence area.

Managers in Project Operations are people with great passion for people centric impactful communication and production techniques. People who lead by translating business direction into clear actionable development plans. People who can lead in the unknown and in ever-changing conditions. People with the ability to develop people and technology together to meet the competence needs of today and tomorrow. People who simplify complexity, and who drive synergies and collaborations. People who can cultivate an innovative and idea-driven culture that enables co-workers to explore and share ideas and reinvent creative production.

You’ll need:

• Ability to transform IKEA communication needs to services for the project support team. 
• Understanding of incoming assignment and how to meet needs with tailor-made allocation.
• Experience leading and developing competences by IKEA values.
• Experience identifying and mapping co-worker capabilities.
• Experience working in a multicultural, creative and inclusive work environment.
• Experience from relevant project management methods
• Fluency in English, spoken and written.     

This is a place where you can focus on doing what you love. There are no dress codes or closed offices. No day is ever the same. All ideas are welcome. Everyone tries to pitch in when needed, and failures are seen as a way of learning. When you enter our building, we want you to feel that you can inspire billions of people all over the world. 

Are you ready to make the world a little better, together? We want to hear from you!

The role is a temporary position while our colleague is abroad until late fall 2020. The contract period will be 1st of December until 30th of October.

We look forward to receiving your application the latest by 18th of October, in English. Please note that this position is in Älmhult, Sweden. 

We do not accept applications by e-mail. If you are one of the candidates we think have the required experience we will contact you by email or phone to plan a telephone interview. In some cases recruitment processes may take time, so we kindly ask you to be patient in this regard.